Facing Criticism in the Age of Social Media

Earlier criticism was limited to family members, friends,
colleagues and critics of your work. However, in the age of social media you
will face criticism from anyone on any matters including your personal life.

Personal Life

Criticism related to personal life should not bother you.

Your body, your relationships, your dress, your likes and
dislikes…people who criticize them should be ignored. When it goes beyond a
level and harms your individual freedom and space put it down with a firm foot. When needed use the legal option. Social media is not beyond law.

Never let anyone shake your self-confidence.

Do not follow the crowd and get into trouble. Do things that
you like to do and do it without any qualms.

But if you are doing things to garner attention then you
need to be ready to face criticisms. Attention seekers need to have a lot of
determination, willpower and courage to withstand the barrage of criticism that
will appear on the social media.

If you are appearing in the public domain to be appreciated,
along with claps and bouquets, you need to be ready to face brickbats and
rotten tomatoes.

Criticism of your work

Not all criticism of your work are genuine, majority of them
are prejudiced. Most of them are written by people who follow a set ideology or
are followers of an -ism. A vast majority of people are filled with negativism
and they just spread it by attacking other people. You can easily understand
such criticism from the tone of the language and the hollowness of the write up.

Pay utmost attention while doing your work. Be brutally
honest to yourself. Once the work is out in the public, forget it and move on
with your next work. Remember the famous teaching of the Bhagavad Gita; you
only have the right to work not to its results.

If you make compromises in your work and do things to please
a particular section of the society, you will be criticized.

Do not work to get facebook likes and retweets, work because
you like to work. Anything that you enjoy doing will be appreciated.

Always remember, if you give importance to what other people
say and think about you, then you will never have peace of mind or happiness.